1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to animal feed supplements, and in particular, to a block form of the supplment intended for free choice feeding.
2. Brief Statement of the Prior Art
Sugar-base animal feed supplements such as the typical molasses-urea compositions have been used for many years in liquid form. The supplement is added daily to the forage and feed for the animal. These supplements have also been provided for animals in a free choice feeding by the use of "lick wheels" in which the animal obtains the supplement by licking the supplement from the paddles of a wheel which is rotated through a reservoir of the supplement.
Medications and drugs have been included with animal feed supplements and have been forcibly administered to animals in controlled dosage. These methods, however, are costly, often requiring extensive time and attention of skilled personnel such as veterinarians and their assistants.
One of the problems which attends any free choice feeding of the sugar base solutions is over-consumption by the cattle, and this problem is particularly acute when a medication or drug is to be included with the supplement. The aforementioned lick wheels limit overconsumption somewhat by physically limiting the supply to the cattle. The consumption can also be controlled when a liquid supplement is added in regulated amounts to the normal daily diet of the animal, however, this incurs high labor costs and handling problems.
The high cost of dispensing liquid supplements has spurred recent attempts to provide the supplement in a solid block form for free choice feeding by the cattle. A number of recently issued patents have been directed to animal feed blocks of this nature, e.g., see U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,027,043, 4,016,296 and 3,961,081. Typically, these blocks are solidified by the addition of calcium oxide and phosphoric acid to the supplement to form a solid block; by the addition of calcium oxide and fatty acids to form a soap gel; or by crystallization of the sugars; as in candy manufacture.
It has been proposed that overconsumption of these blocks can be avoided and free choice feeding in controlled quantities can be accomplished by the incorporation of various appetite inhibitors. While some reduction in consumption can be achieved with appetite inhibitors, these inhibitors are adulterants and potential food additives, the effects of which are never completely identifiable. The materials also contribute to an increased cost of maufacturing the block. The inhibitors also do not provide a control over consumption with the precision or exactitude necessary for controlled dosages of medication.